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Archive for the ‘Spanish’ Category

We have just made a major update to El Marcadorado for those of you who have Spanish-language blogs and websites you want publicized. El Marcadorado is the Spanish-language version of TheBookmarketer …a simple script that you add to your pages to encourage your visitors to social bookmark them. In fact, we are pretty sure this is the only service of its kind for the Hispanic world.

This question came up on forum recently (I can’t recall which forum, sorry) and it interests me because multilingual SEO is something I quite enjoy.

The question as I recall it is whether on-topic links in various languages or from various language websites is helpful for SEO purposes. The answer is not clear-cut.

First, any link is a good link…almost. That is, unless the linking website is truly despicable (Did I spell that right, Sylvester?), the link carries some value.

Second, in many niches Anglicisms creap intot he lingo. For example, SEO is a word used in Spanish and therefore a link on a Spanish page about SEO would be keyword relevant for this blog.

Third, you can always include a bilingual link, so a link on a French page to an English page about restaurant jobs could read “Emplois Restaurant Jobs”.

Fourth, it is possible that the search engines can relate some cross language themes. There are plenty of carpet websites with sections in several languages. There are plenty of car accessory websites with sections in several languages. There are plenty of hotel websites with sections in several languages. The major search engines are smart enough to recognize patterns, such as that very often English sections of a website themed around “carpets” and “rugs” also have French sections themed around “tapis” and Spanish sections themed around “alfombras” and “tapetes”. I am not saying that Google and Yahoo actually do this, just that they can. They can probably also tell which sites of various languages might be similarly themed by their link profiles, for instance if the websites were both linked from a lot of directories or blogs in the same niche.

Fifth, keep in mind that there are a lot of multilingual people out there. There are many people in my neck of the woods who would click on a link whether it is in French or in English.

Your best bet – the most sure thing – is to seek links from websites in the same language. But if you see a good opportunity to get a relevant link from another website in another language, don’t feel you have to pass it by.

Over the past few years, Americans have been waking up to the growing Hispanic presence amongst them. Not only are there more Hispanics than ever as a percentage of the total US population, but the Hispanic community is growing more mature, as the next generation takes on higher-paying jobs, moves into the suburbs and has more money to spend. Of particular note to marketers is that, unlike other communities before them, Hispanics are hanging on to their language and will often expect to be addressed in Spanish or take their money elsewhere. This is one of the reasons that work by people like Leslie Inzunza, who advises on law firms marketing to Hispanics, is so important.

Canadians are used to bilingualism (English/French), so you would think they would be jumping on this brand new market opportunity in their own back yard by teaching their kids Spanish (a language similar to, but easier than, French). Not so.

The head-in-the-sand approach of most Canadians is even more worrisome when considering the change happening in Canada. I just returned from a suburb of Montreal that I know well, where Greek, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Caribean and Indian minorities abound. Our family picnic lasted 7 hours, during which time we conversed with four Spanish families. Considering that we did not speak with most strangers in the park, that number speaks volumes about the shifting demographics right in Canada. It mirrors what I saw the week before in Niagara Falls, where the two visible minorities that I saw in large numbers were Indians (recognizable by their skin and attire) and Hispanics (recognizable by their language). It mirrors what I have been overhearing in shopping malls, in bowling alleys, in stores around Ottawa.

America’s changing demographic is also Canada’s changing demographic. Funny that Canadians, already attuned to bilingualism, are so slow to notice!

This is a first in the world, a Spanish language social bookmarking aggregator script for webmasters. Just like TheBookmarketer- English language social bookmarking script, Spanish webmasters can place the small El Marcadorado code snippet on their webpages to encourage visitors to social bookmark their pages.

In addition to the major English language social bookmarking sites, El Marcadorado supports the major Spanish language social bookmarking websites, such as Meneame, Blogmemes and Fresqui.